Road World Championship: Julian Alaphilippe defends his World Championship title in Flanders

Cycling: The 2020 world champion is also the 2021 world champion. France's Julian Alaphilippe managed to successfully defend his title in Flanders, Belgium. Dylan van Baarle from the Netherlands took silver ahead of Michael Valgren from Denmark. The Belgians miss a medal at their home World Cup.

Alaphilippe is rewarded for his bravery

As expected, the 88th Road World Championships in Flanders turned into a real spectacle. On the 268,3 kilometer route from Antwerp to Leuven, the pros shouldn't give up. Again and again there were selections, so that a clearly defined main field was no longer really recognizable early in the race. A course of racing made for an active and explosive driver like Julian Alaphilippe. The defending champion from France attacked several times and was finally able to break away from his companions around 21 kilometers from the finish line. He couldn't be caught up to the finish line, even though he was only a few seconds ahead at times. This means that the old world champion is also the new world champion.

Top favorites are stalking each other

In the penultimate round went Julian Alaphilippe once again on the offensive. With two attacks in a row he managed to break away as a soloist. The group behind didn't seem to harmonize anymore, so the Dutchman Dylan vanBaarle, the Belgian Jasper Stuyven, the American Nelson Powless and the dane Michael Valgren formed a new chasing group. Curious: the actual captains wout van aert (Belgium) and Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) thus gave up their claim to leadership. 6 kilometers from the finish, the quartet of pursuers began to tear each other apart. With a deficit of 30 seconds, they should have realized that it will only be about the silver medal anyway. But despite numerous attacks, the four came to the finish line together. In the sprint, Dylan van Baarle was finally ahead of Michael Valgren.

German starters without a chance

Unfortunately, the German pros were just as little able to intervene in the decision as the Swiss and Austrians. Around 50 kilometers from the finish, a 17-strong group should break away from the already tattered main field. Not a single driver from these nations was represented in it. Nils Politt later tried desperately to drive back to von – in vain. That is also disappointing for Switzerland Marc Hirschi missed the mail.